Together
by shanqi
Summary: Continuing where we left off with "I should have fought for us", following Claire and Morgan. Friendship, romance, and everything in between. Let's see where this takes us.
1. Chapter 1: I'm here for you

I'm starting off before the events of 3x16, partly for the sake of consistency with the previous fic but also because I had other ideas for how the favoritism complaint should have gone down.

* * *

Morgan had steered Claire through the hospital, picking up their coats and bags and led her to the nearest bar. They'd downed Morgan's promised round of beers, had a second and were starting on a third, against their better judgment. Morgan had tried to regale her with Shaun's amusing insights into the reasons for Ms. Ziegler's latest divorce. Unfortunately, none of it had managed to wipe the melancholy off Claire's face.

Morgan sighed, defeated, "Why does Melendez making up with Lim bother you so much?" When Claire failed to even acknowledge her question, she continued, "What were you expecting, Browne? Were you hoping to fall in love, marry him and have kids or something?"

"Of course not," Claire finally replied, turning to frown at Morgan's ridiculous suggestion. "We were just friends." Morgan sighed softly, not entirely believing Claire's assertion that they were 'just friends' but wisely kept her mouth shut. "Neil's helped me a lot lately," Claire continued, turning back to her glass, "he's been listening to me, giving good advice and just generally being a good friend. Maybe I'm just sad at the thought that he might not have time for that anymore."

Morgan rolled her eyes to herself. Claire could be so melodramatic sometimes. "Why does it have to be Melendez?" she asked, a little sourly, "There are other people in your life who can hear you out."

"Yeah? Like who," Claire scoffed, "My therapist? Or my dead mother?"

If anyone else speaking to her with such disdain, Morgan would have answered with a nastily worded remark, but this was Claire and she knew this was the grief talking. She knew that underneath, St. Claire was still there, or so she hoped. Biting back her witty retort, Morgan reasoned, "No, there are others. You know Shaun can also be surprisingly insightful."

Claire shook her head, the idea of piling her problems on Shaun didn't sit well with her. Even though she'd witnessed first hand how much Shaun could care about his friends, she was also aware that he had his own everyday struggles with and she couldn't bear adding her own issues. "I think Shaun has enough on his hands with trying to work out his relationship with Carly," Claire admitted, "I talked to him once, after his dad died, but I don't think he quite saw a parent's death the same way I do."

Morgan nodded. "Lim gives good advice," Morgan began but Claire quickly cut her off.

"She's the Chief of Surgery," Claire stated, leaving no room for argument.

"And apparently your rival in love," Morgan muttered to herself, glancing at Claire to make sure she hadn't heard. After a moment of silence, Morgan finally said what was on her mind, "Well, I'm here for you."

She'd said it so softly that Claire wasn't sure if she'd misheard. Morgan had presented herself as a competitive and selfish person from the first day, willing to do anything to give herself an advantage or get ahead. Morgan's moments of genuine kindness were so few and far in between that Claire often forgot that the cold-hearted surgical resident wasn't all there was to Morgan. Tonight, for the second time since they'd met, Morgan had surprised her with her kindness once again, and Claire didn't know how to respond.

Morgan cringed, silently berating herself for letting those words slip out. Claire's lack of a response agitated her and she nervously broke the silence, "Well there's Park. Park is a great listener and you know he'll always keep you on the straight and narrow."

At the mention of Park, Claire was reminded of the complaint he filed. Irritated, she finally vented her feelings about the matter, "Park needs to stop sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. You know, he's the one that filed that favoritism complaint."

"What? What makes you think that?" Morgan asked, confused by Claire's confidence.

"He told me himself," Claire replied, thinking nothing at Morgan's confusion, "He said he was doing it for my own good. You know he actually had the audacity to act like I should thank him."

"He told you it was him?" Morgan said in disbelief, knowing full well that she'd been the only one to file a complaint. She couldn't fathom why Park would take the fall for her but made a mental note to ask him when she got the chance.

Claire ignored Morgan's interjection, continuing with her tirade, "He's lucky I managed to convince Neil to stop going out of his way to shut me down just to appear more professional. He wanted to stop running together and didn't even want to sit down for a meal with me, can you believe it? We're just friends! Why do people have to start rumors when a man and a woman start spending more time with each other?"

Morgan scoffed, having finally had enough of Claire's misguided insistence that she and Melendez were 'just friends'. "Claire, I saw your face fall when Melendez kissed Lim just then," she said matter-of-factly, not giving Claire any more opportunities to blame other people for the clear ethical issues surrounding her relationship with Melendez.

Claire scowled, knowing she'd been defeated. "Looked more like Lim was kissing him," she grumbled.

Morgan lifted her eyebrows at Claire in obvious disbelief. "There's no way you're still telling yourself that Melendez wants to be 'just friends' with Lim," Morgan said testily.

Claire looked away, embarrassed, and tried to change the subject by reminding Morgan, "We were talking about Park." When Morgan didn't respond, Claire attempted to resume her rant, "He really needs to mind his own business and stop acting like –"

"Park lied to you," Morgan interrupted. As competitive and selfish as she was, Park had always tried to be friendly and treated her fairly. She couldn't let him take the fall and suffer from Claire's wrath just because she'd done something irrational and self-serving. Plus, it didn't seem right to be sitting her calling Claire out on her lies while keeping such a big secret herself.

Claire had stopped talking and was staring at her, waiting for Morgan to continue.

Morgan took a deep breath, and finally admitted, "It was me. I filed the complaint."

"What? So I was right! It was you!" Claire burst out in annoyance, "You must have known that Neil was helping me find avenues for my grief after losing my mom. Are you so competitive that you'd sabotage that?"

Morgan had been nodding slowly, her head hung in shame, bracing for the tirade she knew was coming. She'd resolved to sit there silently and take it all but couldn't stop herself when Claire accused her of not caring.

"I thought I was helping you deal!" Morgan exclaimed loudly, fueled by anger and alcohol.

"We don't have that sort of relationship," Claire replied, calmly and coldly.

"I helped you confront a man you thought was hurting your mom, I stood with you when you sent your mom off at the Marine Center, and you think we don't have that kind of relationship?" Morgan said through gritted teeth, "I thought we were friends!"

Claire recognized the flash of jealousy that crossed Morgan's face and was enraged by her childishness. "So what you're saying is you filed that complaint because you were jealous that your friend made friends with someone else? How old are you?" Claire asked while gathering her coat and bag and making to leave.

Morgan reached out and grabbed onto Claire's wrist, hoping to hold her back long enough to find the words to apologize.

"It's no wonder no one seems to like you," Claire concluded, wrenching her arm out of Morgan's grasp, and stormed out of the bar.

Morgan watched Claire leave with tears welling up in her eyes. She motioned for the bartender to get her another beer before sobbing quietly into her hands. How had she messed up so badly? But more importantly, why did it hurt so much?


	2. Chapter 2: She's good for you

I'm so conflicted over what they've with Claire on the show, and I don't really want to think about it too much at the moment. This chapter is more Morgan-centric and all about Park being a good friend, because I think he's the only one who has really taken the time to understand who Morgan is.

* * *

Claire was putting on her white coat in the locker room when Morgan arrived for work the next morning. It was clear that Claire hadn't gotten over Morgan's confession from the night before when she deliberately failed to acknowledge Morgan's "Good morning". Claire continued to quickly organize her things for the day, grabbing everything she needed before slamming her locker shut and proceeding to leave.

Morgan sighed and moved to block her way, forcing Claire to acknowledge her presence. "I'm sorry," Morgan breathed in exasperation, "I'm sorry I filed that complaint. I know you're angry with me, but you can't go on ignoring me like this."

"I'm on Andrew's service today, with Shaun," Claire said nonchalantly, "I don't see why there's any need for us to speak." With that, she sidestepped Morgan and left, leaving Morgan staring, dumbstruck, at the empty locker room.

If Morgan had any doubts last night that her impulsive decision to file that favoritism complaint had destroyed her friendship with Claire, there was absolutely no room to misinterpreting Claire's opinion of her today. Morgan blinked back tears and sat down heavily on the bench, regretting everything – filing the complaint and admitting to doing it. She berated herself over letting something as inconsequential as a friendship with a fellow resident – especially one she'd have to be competing for jobs with – cause her so much grief. She was Morgan Reznick, she'd grown up being treated as the hopeless, rebellious, unappreciated child of her family and it hadn't stopped her from being happy and successful. Even if Claire was right and no one liked her, it hadn't stopped Morgan from enjoying herself before.

She couldn't let Claire Browne get to her like this.

* * *

"Good morning!" Morgan said, greeting Park with a wide smile.

"What's got you so happy today," Alex asked, amused and a little taken aback.

"Why shouldn't I be happy?" Morgan asked in reply, accepting their patient's chart from Nurse Petringa with a polite nod and smile.

"I saw you leaving with Claire last night, I'm guessing this means you enjoyed yourselves," Alex commented, trying not to appear too interested in her personal life while they scanned the patient's chart together. Morgan gave a noncommittal hum in response, which seemed out of character considering her usual arrogance. Alex was about to question her further but was interrupted by the arrival of Melendez.

"Good morning, Dr. Reznick, Dr. Park," Neil said, greeting his residents with a grin.

"Looks like you're not the only one in a good mood," Alex mumbled to Morgan, exchanging a knowing look as they followed Melendez into the waiting patient's room. After a quick discussion with their patient to confirm his scheduled pacemaker insertion, Melendez left them to prepare the patient for surgery.

"Dr. Melendez seems to be quite cheerful today," their patient commented to the two residents, lying back as they rearranged tubes and wires so he could be transported to the OR.

"I'm sure he is," Alex replied, "If what the nurses say is to be believed – something about him and Dr. Lim in the rain last night. Did you see anything, Reznick?"

"Okay, we're done here," Morgan said with a smile to their patient, ignoring Alex's question, "Someone will come by soon to take you up to the OR." Morgan picked up her notes and left the patient's room, heading towards the OR with Alex following closely behind her.

"Browne was right about you," Morgan said mockingly as they hurried through the hospital corridors, "You really are a busybody."

"It's not like her to criticize," Alex commented, a little surprised that he'd come up in conversation between the two women.

"She said you told her you filed the complaint about her and Melendez," Morgan replied, slowing down so she could observe Alex's reaction. "Why did you tell her it was you?"

Alex shrugged. "I thought it would create a little less drama for our team," he said indifferently, "I knew it was you – I know I didn't do it, and I couldn't imagine Shaun doing it, so it had to be you." Morgan took in his assessment in silence as they walked into the OR and prepared to scrub in. It was supposed to be an anonymous complaint, but somehow everyone seemed to know it was her. If Lim hadn't told anyone, then how was it so obvious? And what had Melendez meant when he said her jealousy was as clear as day?

"Claire already suspected it was you," Alex said, breaking the silence again, "I think she's good for you. There's something about her that brings out the kinder, more caring, more human side of you." Alex turned to face her before continuing, "You should give her a chance to be a good friend to you. I've seen how she can bring down your walls. You don't have to pretend to be tough and happy with everyone, you know."

Morgan considered his advice and couldn't help feeling like it was a little ill-timed. "I told her last night that it was me, that you'd lied to her," Morgan admitted, trying to make it seem like no big deal.

"What?" Alex said, startled. He wanted to understand why she'd done something so stupid but didn't get the chance to ask as Melendez had just arrived at the OR, preventing him from questioning Morgan for the second time that morning.

* * *

After a busy morning operating on a couple of scheduled patients, with an emergency surgery slotted in, Alex finally had the chance to catch Morgan and force her to continue her story about the previous night. Finding her at a table to the side of the cafeteria, he dropped his tray onto her table and took the seat facing her without an invitation.

"If you already knew I'd taken the fall, why did you tell her you'd done it?" Alex said, not one for beating around the bush.

Morgan shrugged, "I guess it just felt like the right thing to do at the time."

"You got angry, didn't you?" Alex asked, knowing Morgan a little too well after the last three years of residency, "She said something, pissed you off, and you did something impulsive that hurt everyone involved." Morgan glared at him in response. "Well, no wonder she was so cold with me this morning," Alex continued, "I thought she'd already gotten over the complaint, but she must now blame me for lying to cover for you, which tells me she hasn't forgiven you either."

Park's heightened observation skills from his experiences as a cop were usually helpful and well appreciated, but Morgan decided that right now, she'd rather he couldn't read her quite so well. Stabbing at the tomato in her salad, she said defensively, "I've apologized. If she doesn't forgive me then that's her decision. I'm not going to beg her to be my friend – we're not in primary school."

Alex sighed and shook his head to himself, "It's obvious she's important to you. You're just not ready to admit it."

Morgan scoffed, "You make it sound like I'm going to die without her. Yes, we may have been getting closer and I may have considered her as something of a friend, but it's not like she's my only friend."

Alex tried to accept her explanation, considering the fact that she probably wouldn't listen to anything he had to say but couldn't help himself. Maybe Claire _had _been right, maybe he was a born meddler. "I can't say I understand exactly what went on in your head when you decided to file that favoritism complaint. I can't even say exactly why you did it. But I've known you for a while now and I know how competitive you can be. I've watched you try to hide your own issues and shortcomings by drawing attention to other people's problems. Maybe that's what was happening here, but I don't think it was just a coincidence that you chose to target Claire. Her relationship with Melendez was bothering you."

Morgan didn't want to hear what insights Park had about her relationship with Claire so she tried to change the subject by rebutting with, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't have any issues!"

Unfortunately, Alex didn't miss a beat, "We all have issues, Morgan. Just because you think you're brilliant at hiding and ignoring them doesn't mean they don't exist." Satisfied that he'd quashed Morgan's attempt to distract him from his train of thought, he continued, "If you were just trying to bring someone else down to draw attention away from yourself, you didn't have to choose Claire. Shaun should have been the obvious choice. Lim was clearly playing favorites with Shaun. She gave him what was supposed to be my first lead surgery and then let him practice his second shot at a solo surgery with a full team of OR staff. Everyone saw that, but you never filed a complaint about Lim."

"Well you didn't file a complaint about it," Morgan said pointedly, "We all let Murphy off the hook once in a while."

Alex sighed, "I've said what I can, Morgan. If you're going to keep telling yourself that Claire isn't anything special to you, there's nothing I can do." He quickly finished the rest of his lunch in silence and left Morgan to her own thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3: Bring Morgan

**Catching up with the events of 3x16. I actually really enjoyed their patient in that episode so we'll be keeping him here.**

* * *

Claire had managed to pass several days without being paired up with Morgan on a case, giving her the excuse to continue ignoring Morgan. Today, though, she was on Andrews' service with Morgan and she knew she couldn't avoid talking about that night at the bar any longer.

She'd thought about Morgan's admission for a long time after leaving her at the bar that night and why she was so angry about it. It wasn't like she'd actually cared that much about the complaint. It was true that the complaint had caused some trouble in her relationship with Neil, and it was true that she'd had to put the work into making sure he went back to treating her like any other resident, but it didn't have any drastic effects on her work or her career. She'd been quite quick to forgive Park when he said he'd been the one to file the complaint but for some reason, it hurt more coming from Morgan.

She had forgiven Park for not knowing about how much she'd been struggling after her Mom's death or understanding how important Neil's encouragement and friendship had been to helping her cope with everything, but Morgan knew better. Morgan had been the first to notice when something wasn't quite right with Claire, and she'd been there when Claire said goodbye to her Mom. She was more caring and understanding than most people would have guessed, which was probably why her decision to file that favoritism complaint hurt Claire so much.

Everyone knew that Morgan was competitive with her work and would do anything it took to ensure she came out on top, but Claire didn't think she could go this far. Coming from Park, she could have seen the complaint as a purely professional issue – Neil had been supporting her ideas over Parks more often than not in recent weeks, and she could understand if that was becoming irritating. Coming from Morgan, though, she could only see someone who was trying to break down a competitor by removing the support needed to keep her sane and functioning.

Morgan's arrival in the locker room pulled Claire from her thoughts.

"Looks like you can't avoid talking to me any longer, Browne," Morgan said, slightly bitter and exasperated after several days of receiving the silent treatment, "Unless you're expecting me to read your mind when it comes to dealing with our patients today."

Claire huffed, annoyed again by Morgan's insensitive attitude. Not trusting herself to say something polite, Claire opted for silence as Morgan organized her things and prepared for the day. Sensing Claire's irritation, Morgan stopped herself from snidely remarking "So I guess it's silence today too" and instead, turned to Claire with the best fake smile she could muster and said, "Let's get to work then."

* * *

Aiden, their patient that day, turned out to have an arachnoid cyst, giving rise to an alter-ego who came alive when he was asleep. While performing the MRI, they're asked by the sensible, conscious Aiden whether his reckless, wild alter-ego was a manifestation of something he was trying to suppress and whether it should be kept hidden forever.

Trying to console him, Morgan admitted, "I kind of like him. I think he's just trying to enjoy himself."

Partially annoyed by Morgan's support of Aiden's party-loving alter and partially irritated by the flirtatious attitude of unconscious Aiden, Claire clicked off the communications to their patient and retorted, "Except he's sabotaging all the hard work of his waking self."

"It's not sabotage, it's just a part of who he is," Morgan replied, slightly confused by Claire's sudden lack of empathy for the thrill-seeker.

"Some parts of who we are suck," Claire cut in, looking pointedly at Morgan.

Finally understanding where the harshness was coming from, Morgan sighed. She'd known that Claire was still annoyed at her over the favoritism complaint and, typical of Claire, she'd chosen the passive-aggressive route and had refused to address things directly.

Morgan decided it was probably best to apologize again, even if it didn't lead to Claire's forgiveness. "Again, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ratted on you and Melendez. I screwed things up," she said sincerely before turning their conversation back to Aiden, not wanting to get into another argument with Claire right then. Fortunately for her, Aiden's results loaded onto the screen and saved her from any further discussion on the matter.

When they informed conscious Aiden of the cyst compressing his hypothalamus and he refused to have the surgery that would remove his alter, Morgan tried to convince Andrews to give unconscious Aiden a chance to give his opinion on the surgery.

Convinced that unconscious Aiden was too much of a hedonist to take the surgery, Claire said, "He's not going to make a decision against his interests just to help his alter."

"Maybe he cares more than you think," Morgan countered before looking to Andrews for a decision, leaving Claire to wonder whether she'd also been referring to herself.

Morgan somehow managed to speak to the self-sacrificing side of frat boy Aiden, and in the process pointed out that "We're all complicated, we're all sometimes superficial selfish jerks." When she heard that admission, Claire realized she'd been unfairly punishing Morgan over the last few days.

She knew Morgan, she'd seen how generous she could be with patients, even if her way of expressing kindness wasn't conventional. Somewhere inside, Claire knew that Morgan had the capacity for kindness underneath all her competitive behavior, but Claire had been so hurt that she'd refused to focus on anything other than Morgan's selfishness.

But Morgan had both apologized again and admitted to being a selfish jerk today. Surely, that should prove that she'd learned her lesson and didn't need to be punished any longer.

* * *

After that night at the bar and Morgan's confession, Claire had complained about it to Neil, who hadn't seemed surprised at all. He'd suggested that they stage an argument to convince Morgan that they weren't more than just friends and it wasn't affecting their professional relationship. Claire had argued that what Morgan thought shouldn't matter but Neil had insisted anyway. Neil had seen the chance when Claire, Morgan, and Andrews were discussing the possible reasons for their patient's condition in the resident's lounge. He'd deliberately picked a fight with Claire over her dismissal of the potential for psychiatric reasons behind Aiden's split personalities.

At the end of their day, Claire received a message from Neil.

Heading down to the bowling alley, you wanna join?

Claire smiled, grateful that Neil was open to continuing their friendship and still wanted to hang out. She quickly replied.

Sure! Just the two of us?

Claire had expected that Neil would be spending more time with Lim, now that they were officially back together, but was still a little disappointed when he confirmed her suspicions.

Audrey will be joining.

Claire was about to reply with some excuse, or just directly tell Neil that she thought it would be too awkward being there, third-wheeling, when he followed up with another message.

Bring Morgan. Might help to convince her I'm not playing favorites.

Claire sighed to herself, not understanding why Neil was so adamant that Morgan understood that their relationship was purely platonic, but invited Morgan along anyway. Morgan hesitated for a moment, staring at her hands, before eagerly accepting.

By the time they arrived at the bowling alley, Claire had almost had it with Morgan's incessant chatter and was wishing she could go back to ignoring Morgan and giving her the silent treatment. Neil and Audrey were both already there, changed into bowling shoes and laughing at something on Neil's phone.

"Good evening, Dr. Lim, Dr. Melendez," Morgan greeted enthusiastically.

"We're not at the hospital now," Audrey said, holding up a pair of bowling shoes "You can call us Audrey and Neil, Morgan."

Morgan smiled but declined the offer, saying jokingly, "I think I'll just watch, thanks. I prefer not to give Browne the chance to beat me at something." Claire rolled her eyes and accepted the shoes Neil had handed her, slipped them on joined Audrey, who was already waiting at the lane with a bowling ball in her hand.

"Let's see if Claire is any good at this," Neil said to Morgan with a smile, "Though I doubt anyone can out-bowl Audrey – I certainly never have. I don't think she can be defeated."

"Maybe St. Claire will surprise us," Morgan replied, glancing at Neil as he watched the two women discussing bowling strategies. "I could tell that your little disagreement with Claire this afternoon was staged, you know," she said to him after a moment.

Neil looked over at her, a little disappointed but unsurprised, "You wouldn't be one of our best residents if you weren't so observant."

"You didn't have to do so much just to try and convince me that you're not biased towards Claire," Morgan commented, "If there isn't actually any favoritism, HR shouldn't have any problems with your relationship. What I think doesn't really matter."

"I think it must matter to Claire," Neil replied with a smile, before joining Audrey, who had just called over to tell him it was his turn to bowl.


	4. Chapter 4: I feel like brunch

I wish Morgan had told someone about her RA (by someone, I mean Claire). I also want to know what Claire's reaction will be now that she knows.

* * *

It was a little over a week since their bowling-alley hang with Lim and Melendez, and things had finally returned to some level of normalcy. Claire was still a little sulky but had cheered up considerably when she realized Lim wasn't going to be an obstacle to her friendship with Melendez. Lying back on her couch, bored and without any plans for the rest of her work-free weekend, Morgan's mind wandered its way to thinking about Claire and wondering what she was doing with her free day.

Morgan whipped out her phone, typed and sent off a message without any hesitation.

Hey Browne, what are you doing?

Ten minutes later, still no response. Maybe she was still asleep. Morgan looked at the time. 10:53 AM. It seemed unlikely that a surgical resident used to regularly waking up at 7:00 would still be asleep this late into the morning. Morgan's body clock definitely wouldn't let her stay sleeping past 9:00.

You probably don't have plans right?

Claire sighed as her phone pinged with the arrival of Morgan's second message. She had been awake for the last three hours, flicking aimlessly through the channels on TV, nothing really holding her attention. She ignored Morgan's first message, sticking to her plan to have an uninterrupted, aimless, relaxing day off by herself. She'd hoped that Morgan would assume she was busy and find something or someone else to entertain her but it seemed she was out of luck.

I feel like brunch. I'll meet you in 30 minutes, same place as last time.

Claire rolled her eyes as Morgan's typical presumptuousness. She contemplated continuing to ignore the messages but then she felt guilty just thinking about knowingly leaving Morgan to sit by herself at a table for two. Resigned, she turned off the TV and pushed herself off her couch in search of something to wear out.

* * *

Less than 10 minutes after the time she'd set, Morgan saw Claire walk through the door of the cafe, which immediately brought a smile to her face. Morgan knew St. Claire couldn't possibly bear the thought of standing her up. Claire spotted Morgan almost immediately as she was eagerly waving her over.

"Good morning!" Morgan said enthusiastically as Claire sat down, earning her raised eyebrows.

"What's got you so happy today?" Claire asked in amusement after watching Morgan happily perusing her menu and animatedly talking Claire through her thought process of deciding what to eat.

"Probably the fact that I was right. You didn't have any plans and you came to join me." She followed her response with a smug grin before turning her attention to the waitress who had come over to take their order.

After they had ordered and their drinks had arrived, Claire continued their previous conversation, "You were right, I wasn't busy, but that's not hard to guess. We work so hard all the time, it's only normal that I'd want to take a day off to do absolutely nothing."

Morgan nodded along to Claire's rationalizations, silently sipping her mimosa with a smile.

"But there was every chance that I wouldn't show up here," Claire continued, "I might not have even read your messages, yet you were sure enough of yourself to turn up."

"I know you and you wouldn't leave me here, all alone," Morgan replied with a teasing smile, "We're friends. You wouldn't stand up a friend."

"That doesn't answer my question. What if I had actually been busy and wasn't looking at my phone," Claire said pointedly.

Morgan shrugged, "I didn't mind risking eating brunch alone, and it looks like I made the right decision, otherwise we wouldn't get to hang out like this."

Claire smiled in response, quietly enjoying the fact that Morgan had just admitted to something as human and needy as wanting to spend time with a friend.

They chatted happily as their order arrive and they ate their food, talking about everything from the nice weather they were having to the time Morgan's mom humiliated her at a science fair in the fifth grade. Somehow, they ended up talking about the future and their careers, a topic that Morgan had been hoping to avoid thinking about.

"I've never really been sure where I want to go from here," Claire admitted, "But after standing in the OR watching Neil performing surgery on a newborn heart, I'm really considering cardiothoracic surgery."

"You're sure you were interested in the surgery or was it just Neil?" Morgan teased, trying to steer the conversation towards the oft-discussed topic of her relationship with Melendez.

Claire rolled her eyes at Morgan's joke. "I don't know, but I still have time to really make up my mind. I'm sure you've known what you wanted to specialize in since before you even started med school," Claire said.

"Neurosurgery," Morgan replied with an almost imperceptible sigh. She looked down at the remaining third of her Eggs Benedict, thinking about her goals and dreams, and how they seemed so unattainable with her current diagnosis. Sensing the sudden drop in her mood, Claire frowned, confused by Morgan's sudden lack of enthusiasm. Morgan was always the most confident person in the room, her arrogance written into everything she said and did, but given the chance to talk about her dreams and how she'd succeed in becoming the best neurosurgeon the world had ever seen, she'd gone uncharacteristically quiet.

"I'll deny ever saying this," Claire began, bringing Morgan out of her reverie, "But I think you'll make a great neurosurgeon." Morgan only smiled sadly in response, so Claire added in jest, "You already have the arrogance, so you'll fit right into the stereotype." Morgan laughed briefly, nodding in acceptance of Claire's critique but then the smile was again replaced by a worried expression.

"Seriously, Morgan," Claire said, reaching out to place her hand over Morgan's where it rested on the table and successfully drawing her attention, "You're smart, you work hard and you don't stand for anyone else's nonsense. I think you'll be a very good neurosurgeon if that's what you want to do. Why are you so worried about it?"

Morgan sighed, debating with herself whether she should tell Claire the real reason for her concerns. The fewer people who knew about her condition, the less likely her career would be in jeopardy. But, at the same time, keeping everything to herself and constantly worrying about things without anyone to talk with was also taking a toll on her. She quickly arrived at the decision that Claire would be the best person to tell if she had to tell someone, and sincerely hoped that her trust in Claire's kindness wasn't misplaced.

"I've been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis," Morgan said, calm and direct, and from the look of shock and concern on Claire's face, she knew she'd adequately explained her anxieties about the future of her career.

After she'd recovered from the shock of Morgan's news, Claire quickly assumed the role of a supportive friend and concerned doctor, "Have you been taking any medication to treat it?"

Morgan shook her head sadly, "Glassman and I tried but nothing has worked. I have been considering other options, though, like having synovectomy surgery."

For the second time in as many minutes, Claire was shocked by Morgan's words. She'd always known Morgan would go to great lengths to achieve her goals, but to undergo a surgery that could risk the use of her hands – not to mention the long-term implications – was extreme, even for her.

Claire started to object "Morgan, there must be something you haven't tried. You should really make sure all your options are exhausted before —"

"I know," Morgan interrupted bitterly, pulling her hand away from under Claire's. She continued with a softer, almost pleading tone, "I don't want to talk or think about it. We were having so much fun, just having brunch."

Claire nodded, knowing that trying to push Morgan on the topic wasn't going to get them anywhere. She resumed eating her overly-sweet french toast while she wracked her brain for something light and cheerful to say to take their minds off Morgan's condition. Looking out at the street, she spotted a poster advertising what looked like a heartwarming movie. Claire pointed out at the poster and asked Morgan, "Do you want to spend the rest of the afternoon with me and watch that?"

"Seems incredibly sappy," Morgan said with a mock disgusted expression, "But I'm happy to see it if you want to."

* * *

After finishing brunch, Claire checked her phone for the cinema schedule, figuring they had a couple of hours to waste before the session she wanted to see. Before leaving the house that morning, Claire had promised herself she would only entertain Morgan for as long as it took to have brunch before going back to spending the rest of her free time doing nothing, alone. Morgan's revelations had changed everything though, and Claire had made it her new mission of the day to make sure Morgan had a good day, going out of her way to suggest all sorts of things they could do together to pass time.

They browsed through some clothing stores, with Claire giving in to Morgan's attempts to see her in all sorts of flashy outfits, and stopped for some ice cream before making their way to the cinema.

"What was the movie you wanted to see, again?" Morgan asked as they were waiting in line to purchase tickets.

"I think it's called The Call of the Wild," Claire said, looking around to find the movie poster.

"Do you want to ask Neil if that's what he's watching?" Morgan said, knowing that her continual mocking of Claire's relationship with Melendez was going to get on her nerves eventually, but still unable to stop herself from poking fun at them.

"What are you talking about?" Claire asked, before following her line of sight and spotting Neil and Audrey at the concession stand, deciding between popcorn sizes. She quickly pulled Morgan out of the ticket line and into a more hidden corner of the cinema corner, hoping they weren't seen. Afterward, Claire had no idea why she was so afraid of being seen by Neil at the cinema. Was it because he was there with Lim? Or was she afraid of him catching her with Morgan?

As if she could read Claire's mind, Morgan asked snippily, pulling her arm out of Claire's grasp, "What's wrong? Are you that embarrassed to be seen hanging out with me?"

"No, Morgan, that's not it," Claire said, a little too quickly, before apologetically adding, "I don't really know what it is, maybe I still can't stomach the idea of him and Lim being a couple, but I don't think I really want to watch this movie now. Is that okay with you?"

Morgan sighed, "It's fine. This was your idea anyway."

"Let's go do something you like then," Claire suggested, beckoning for Morgan to follow her as she made to leave the cinema.

"No," Morgan replied with a smile, "You did everything I wanted all day, let's do something else you like. I can be a good friend too, you know."


	5. Chapter 5: That's what friends are for

I'm terrified for Morgan right now. Despite everything else that went on in that finale episode, I actually really want to see what comes next for Morgan.

This is just some fun. I can't really think after watching that finale.

* * *

Claire's smile when she saw Morgan entering the locker room quickly turned into concern when she noticed the strange expression on Morgan's face.

"Hey, are you okay?" Claire asked.

Pulled out of her thoughts, which had still been on Lim and Melendez whom she'd caught making out in the parking lot, Morgan smiled brightly in reply, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Unconvinced, Claire tried to keep pushing. "It's not your hands, is it?" she said in a low voice so that no one else would overhear.

"No, they haven't gotten any worse since I last saw you," Morgan said nonchalantly, turning her attention to digging out her scrubs.

"You'd tell me if they were bothering you, right?" Claire asked, grabbing onto Morgan's arm as she tried to walk past her to get changed and ready for the day ahead.

Morgan rolled her eyes and sighed, "Yes, mom, I will."

Despite Morgan's genuinely upbeat demeanor and reassurances that there wasn't anything bothering her, Claire knew that Morgan was an expert at masking her anxieties and wasn't convinced. At lunch, Claire finally decided to confront her.

"I want to know what you were thinking about this morning," Claire began after a few bites of her pasta, "You had this slightly horrified, fish-out-of-water look on your face when you came into the locker room. You were so distracted, you didn't even realize I was there until I spoke."

"This again?" Morgan said in exasperation, "I already said there wasn't anything bothering me." She leaned in closer before adding in a hushed voice, "You have to stop treating me like a child just because you know about my RA. I'm not an invalid."

"Okay," Claire said, trying to sound calm despite becoming more and more irritated with Morgan's obvious avoidance of the question. "If you don't want to tell me, it's fine. But if something is bothering you, you really should tell someone."

"Nothing. Is. Bothering. Me." Morgan exaggerated every word, hoping to get the point across, but Claire just raised an eyebrow, refusing to believe her.

"Fine," Morgan finally said, "You're right. There was something on my mind this morning, but I'm absolutely certain it's something you want to hear about."

"Morgan, you were the one who said that we're friends," Claire sighed, "If I was really your friend, then I'd want to know anything that was on your mind."

Morgan exhaled in defeat. It was true, Claire hadn't once admitted that they were friends. Morgan had been the one who kept insisting that they had some sort of friendship, and now, if she didn't tell Claire what had been on her mind, Claire would use this to deny that Morgan even thought of her as a friend.

"Well, the reason I probably had a horrified look on my face was that I caught Lim and Melendez making out like middle schoolers in his car," Morgan said straight up, with a look on her face that said, "_There, now you know._"

Claire shuddered at the thought before dejectedly replying, "Yeah, you were right. I didn't want to hear that."

* * *

"Lim called you back in to help out with the ER too?" Morgan asked when she saw Claire putting on a protective gown and gloves.

"I was in the elevator with her when she got the call," Claire replied before adding, "She was in there with Neil." Claire ignored how Morgan mocked her by mouthing "_Neil_" while feigning a love-stricken expression and continued, "I don't know if it's because of the image you put in my head this morning, but I felt like they were making out behind my back."

Morgan laughed. "You know, we should probably get used to it. They're dating again, we're bound to run into them doing more than just giving heart eyes to each other," she said while struggling to put on a pair of surgical gloves.

"Are you okay there?" Claire asked, suddenly concerned again.

"Yes, I'm fine," Morgan replied, a little too snappily. She saw Claire recoil slightly from her and immediately felt guilty for behaving so brashly. "I'm sorry," she apologized sincerely, "I just got one of my fingers caught in the wrong place. I'm fine, Claire, really."

"You're fine?" Park said to Morgan as he joined them, grabbing himself a gown, "Why would Claire think you're not fine?"

"None of your business," Morgan replied as Claire handed him a pair of gloves.

Park raised his eyebrows and said jokingly in a low voice so only Morgan could hear, "I thought we were friends, Reznick, you used to tell me everything. But I see how it is now, you have Claire so you don't need friends like me anymore."

Morgan elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up.

* * *

After a long night helping out in the ER, both Morgan and Claire decided to nap in the on-call room for a few hours before the start of their scheduled shifts.

"I feel like I could sleep for 24 hours straight," Claire sighed as she climbed into one of the top bunks, watching as Morgan did the same in the opposite bed.

"You've only got about 2 hours," Morgan said, glancing at her phone, "I'll set an alarm so you're not late."

They'd barely laid down their heads when the door opened and Lim slipped in, followed closely by Melendez. Claire and Morgan froze, staring at each other from their respective bunks, eyes widening with every minute as they realized the level of intimacy they were about to witness. Thankfully, Morgan seemed to receive the pleading messages Claire was trying to send with her eyes in the dark and ingeniously stopped their bosses from heading down a path that could potentially traumatize everyone in the room.

When Claire was certain that the light snoring coming from the bunk below indicated that both Lim and Melendez were asleep, she carefully climbed out of the bed and crept towards the door. Morgan, who had been wide awake since boldly telling Lim and Melendez to "shut up" followed suit and caught up with her in the corridor outside.

"You're awake too?" Claire asked when she saw Morgan follow her out of the on-call room.

"After what Lim and Melendez nearly did?" Morgan asked with a look of exaggerated horror that made Claire laugh, "How could I sleep?"

"Yeah, you're right, it would have been horrifying to witness that," Claire said with a grimace, "Thanks for stopping them though. That was quite ballsy, telling them to shut up like that."

"I'm sure they believed I was half-asleep," Morgan said with a laugh, brushing off Claire's gratitude.

They walked down the corridor in silence, still drained from their long night and dreading their shift ahead. Claire wanted to talk to Morgan about her condition again, having done some research in her downtime, but also didn't know how to approach the topic without bringing out Morgan's defensive nature.

"Morgan," Claire said, stopping in the middle of the empty corridor and laying a light hand on Morgan's arm to draw her attention. "I've been reading up on treatments for RA."

"I do excellent research, you know," Morgan said, a little irritated.

"I know," Claire said calmly, carefully considering her next words, "I know you're a brilliant doctor. I just wanted you to have someone to give a second opinion, or someone to throw around ideas with, or even just someone to give you some hope."

Morgan nodded slowly, trying her best to lay down her defenses and accept Claire's kindness for what it was. Claire smiled when Morgan didn't say anything in retaliation. She knew it would be hard for Morgan to admit that she needed help, and Claire didn't need her to admit anything. Her silent acceptance of Claire's concern was enough.

"We shouldn't talk about this at the hospital, that makes it too formal. I'm not your doctor," Claire said with light enthusiasm like they were talking about going shopping "Let's have brunch again some time, or we can hang out at your place."

"Or we could hang out at yours," Morgan replied with a smile, nodding in consent to Claire's plans, "Thanks Browne, you didn't have to do all that."

"That's what friends are for," Claire said with a smile, before bidding her goodbye and heading off to find Park and Andrews, leaving Morgan smiling widely at the fact that Claire Browne had finally admitted that they were friends.


	6. Chapter 6: Is it worth it?

Have been a bit busy these last two weeks now that we're nearing the end of term, sorry for missing last week's update!

* * *

Morgan busied herself in her kitchen with preparing sauce for the pasta she'd promised to make for lunch. Meanwhile, Claire stared absent-mindedly out Morgan's living room window, watching the trees swaying in the wind. She'd been sitting there silently since Morgan had brushed off Claire's polite attempts to assist with lunch preparations.

While waiting for the water to boil, Morgan finally decided to break the silence, walking over and taking a seat on the sofa next to Claire. Brought back to the present, Claire turned to look at her with a tight-lipped smile and a questioning look.

"Still waiting for the water to boil," Morgan said in answer to Claire's unspoken question. When Claire nodded silently, Morgan sighed and asked, "What's got you so down today?"

"What are you talking about?" Claire asked, putting on a bigger smile while frowning slightly. Morgan scoffed lightly. As if she'd be fooled by Claire's pretense.

"You know what I'm talking about," Morgan said with raised eyebrows, "You usually can't wait to start commenting on my bad habits or arguing with me over the most mundane of things. You've been sitting here silently staring at the empty street for fifteen minutes. And your attempts to actually help with lunch were half-hearted at best."

Silence followed Morgan's accusations and she sighed, resigning herself to continue preparing their food. Just as she was about to get up to go back to the kitchen, Claire spoke.

"I think I'm in love with Neil," Claire admitted, just loud enough for Morgan to hear.

Morgan nearly laughed. "_No kidding,_" she thought to herself.

"I think I should tell him how I feel," Claire continued.

"Wait," Morgan said immediately, her voice conveying her alarm at Claire's suggestion. An unexplainable panic took hold as she thought about the chances of Melendez reciprocating Claire's feelings. "You should think about it a bit more before you do anything you'll regret. He's your boss, and he has Lim. You could make things very awkward between the two of you."

Claire opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the sound of the water hissing as it boiled over the side of the pot. Morgan held up a finger to put a pause on their conversation before dashing off to turn the heat down and add finish cooking the pasta. As she waited for it to cook, she glanced over at Claire, who had returned to fixating on the trees. Morgan could see how much Claire's feelings were bothering her.

When the pasta was done, Morgan scooped it with the sauce into two plates and carried them over to the sofa, handing one to Claire before sitting down with hers.

"On second thoughts," Morgan said, casually picking up from where they'd left off, "Maybe you should tell him."

Claire looked at her in silent question, confused by her sudden change of mind.

"You can tell him you're in love with you, he can tell you he's in love with Lim, then you can get over him and move on," Morgan said bluntly. "The best way to move on is to fall in love with someone else, which means going out and having fun. And I can help you with that," Morgan added with a mischievous grin.

Claire sighed, "You're supposed to be my friend, Morgan. Can't you at least pretend to be a little more supportive of me?"

"I'm being your friend by being realistic," Morgan retorted, "I'm pretty sure there's no way you can get between him and Lim."

"They've broken up before," Claire suggested, trying to sound hopeful but failing to convince even herself.

"Claire," Morgan sighed with a shake of her head, not knowing what to say to convince her friend that this was a bad idea. "They have a decade-long foundation for their relationship. Lim knows him so well she can probably pre-empt his sneezes," Morgan said, laughing at her own joke. Unfortunately, Claire didn't join her in laughter and their conversation lapsed back into a heavy silence.

Trying to change the subject, Morgan broke the silence by redirecting their conversation to her own problems. "I told Lim about my RA yesterday," she offered, successfully taking Claire's mind off Melendez.

"Why? What did she say?" Claire asked.

"Glassman has been trying to convince me to change to another medical specialty," Morgan offered as an explanation, "I thought yesterday's surgery would be my last, so I told Lim. She took pity on me and let me complete the surgery to fit our patient with prosthetics."

Claire nodded, but then realized what Morgan had said. "You _thought_ it was your last surgery?" Claire asked.

Morgan nodded, "I changed my mind afterward. I'm going to get the synovectomy, even if I only get 10 more years at doing surgery, that's better than nothing."

"Wait, Morgan, are you serious?" It was Claire's turn to be shocked and alarmed at Morgan's decision. "You're willing to give up the use of your hands for a good majority of your life just for a shot at another 10 years as a surgeon? Is it worth it?"

"Yeah," Morgan nodded seriously, "I don't see why not."

Claire shook her head in disapproval. "As much as you disagreed with your mother, you're just like her," Claire said, "She was willing to risk her life for her art, and what you're about to do isn't much better." Morgan simply shrugged in response, accepting Claire's criticism and brushing it off.

"You know this isn't the best option," Claire said, trying to persuade Morgan to change her mind, "There must be another way."

"You know there isn't another way," Morgan replied, "You've done as much research as I have and you haven't found anything, have you?" When Claire shook her head defeatedly, Morgan added, "I have no other options, Claire."

"That's not true," Claire said, reaching for Morgan's hand with an encouraging smile, "You have other options. Like Glassman said, being a surgeon isn't your only career path."

"Well, it's the only thing I want to do with my life," Morgan said, leaving no room for argument.

"You could spend the last half of your life essentially incapacitated!" Claire exclaimed in exasperation.

Surprised by Claire's outburst, Morgan calmly asked, "Why are you getting so upset about this? It's my life we're talking about, it doesn't affect you."

"Because I care, Morgan!" Claire almost screamed before exhaling to calm down and continuing, "Don't do this to yourself. You just said it to me yourself. You should think about it more before you do anything you'll regret."

Morgan simply gave her a smile and replied, "I've already scheduled the surgery with Andrews."


End file.
